Rabbi Menahem de Lonzano (d.1611)

It is not known when and where Rabbi Menahem ben Judah  de Lonzano was born. Probably in Turkey or Italy. But we do know that at avery young age he settled in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).
Rabbi Lonzano had a very difficult life. He lost both his father and mother at a very young age, and throughout his entire life he was haunted by poverty and sickness . He was paralyzed in both feet and with the sight of one eye entirely lost.  He still was a great Talmudist, a poet and a distinguished grammarian.
Or Tora is perhaps his most famous work. This book is about the Masoretic Biblical text.  This deserves a brief explanation. The Sefer Tora, the Torah scroll, is written without vowels and without te’amim (punctuation marks). The Humashim, the printed books of Tora from which we study and follow the Torah reading, include the vowels, te’amim, etc. This is the Masoretic text. Many times there are small variations in the vowels and te’amim, almost irrelevant for beginners but very significant for the expert readers, teachers, rabbis and for those who publish Tora books. In this important work, “The Light of the Tora” rabbi Lonzano goes thru the text of the Pentateuch and clarifies the right Masoretic version. Rabbi Lonzano follows a rigorous method of comparing our texts with old Biblical texts, some of them -he says- were more than 600 years old,  to arrive to the most precise version of the Masoretic text.    
Another important book he wrote is the ma‘arikh, a book that clarifies obscure words found in classic Rabbinic texts . The famous Rabbi Hida wrote about this book: “Rabbi Menahem de Lonzano elucidated many unclear words in the Talmud Yerushalmi and the Zohar in a rather scientific way… because he was an expert in the Greek, Arabic and Turkish language… I saw that while many rabbis interpreted those words according to their context, rabbi Lonzano clarified these words based on his solid knowledge [of philology] and the impressive collection of old books and manuscripts which preserved the most accurate version of these words.”  
 
Rabbi De Lonzano died in 1611 and is buried in Har haZetim, Mt Olives Cemetery, Jerusalem.
Click here to download sefer OR TORA ( Amsterdam, 1659).
Click here to download sefer MA’ARIKH (Leipzig, Germany, 1853 ).


PIRQE ABOT 1:7, tell me who your friends are…

ניתאי הארבלי אומר הרחק משכן רע ואל תתחבר לרשע
ואל תתייאש מן הפורענות 
To prepare ourselves for Shabu’ot, the day we received the Tora, it is customary to study Pirqe Abot, the “Chapters of the Fathers” which is a tractate of the Mishna composed around the Second Century. This Mishna does no deal with the details of the observance of specific Mitzvot, as usually the Mishna does, but with practical Jewish wisdom, values and mores.
There are many excellent English translations and commentaries of Pirqe Abot. My favorite one is the Me’am Loez, written by rabbi Ytzhaq Magriso, 18th century, Turkey. He wrote his commentary originally in Ladino (Judeo- Spanish. The book was published in 1747 and today we have a beautiful English translation of his book done by rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, z’l.
Let me share with you a few insights from his book
This Mishna (1:7) talks about neighbors and friends. Exhorting us to be careful when choosing our company.
*Rabbi Magriso explains the dangers of bad influences, via friendship. Influence, positive or negative, is not perceived while taking place. Bad company is like second-hand smoking. The harmful consequences are virtually inevitable, and we might realize those effects on us or on our children when it is already too late.
* Rabbi Magriso offers his insights on real friendship.  He writes that “a good friend” is defined primarily by his or her character. A good friend is an individual who is able to be happy for your happiness. A person who is not jealous of your success.  A bad neighbor, on the contrary, is the one that somehow suffers or is envious of your blessings.  Find neighbors and be among friends who are not jealous of you, and save yourself from a lot of trouble. This is a big lesson, not just for identifying who is a good friend (which is not a simple task, because jealousy is not always easy to detect) but it is also a very important idea for ourselves, to improve our own character: We must learn to be genuinely happy, and never resentful, for the success of our friends. 
*Rabbi Magriso also wrote: What is the best way to assess someone’s character? What is the way to see if our children are in a good path? Look at his or her circle of friends. Who your friends are is the best indicator of who you are, or who you are about to be.

 



MAIMONIDES on ABODA ZARA (11:12): Can we use the Tora to heal our bodies?

                       ויהיו חיים לנפשך
 משלי ג’ כ”ב

In Halakha 11:10 Maimonides writes about the enchanter or  hober,a person who uses magic spells or chants as a way of healing, etc. We explained that spells were extensively used by idol-worshippers, who attributed magic powers to non-sensical words.  In 11:11 Maimonides explains that there is an exception to the prohibition of using spells: when a person was bitten by a snake or a scorpion it is permitted to say or recite for him a non-sensical chant.  Maimonides clarifies: this chant does not have any medicinal powers, but it can help a person, who is in a state of shock to come-down and relax, delaying therefore the effects of the poison (see here) .
  
In Halakha 11:12 Maimonides makes clear that not every chant is approved to be used for relaxation. He writes that if the person assisting the patient bitten by a snake uses a verse from the Tora as a calming chant, that person is committing a great sin. Why? Because he is using a verse from the Tora as if it was effective for curing the body and the words of Tora cannot be used for medical purposes.

In the Mishna (Sanhedrin Chapter 10) Rabbi Aqiba brings as an illustration of this serious prohibition, someone who uses the verse from Exodus 15:26  “If you listen to HaShem your God… I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

For Maimonides, using a pasuq from the Tora for material purposes, even for something as noble as curing a person, is considered a very serious sin and a desecration of the Tora, since the Tora is the remedy and cure for one’s soul, as Shelomo haMelekh said: “and they [the words of Tora] will be life for your soul“, i.e., not of your body.  
    
When we have a health problem, we should seek the assistance of a physician and in addition pray to haShem to cure us, and to guide the minds and hands of those who are healing us.  For Maimonides, using the Tora as a medicine for our body would be demeaning to its true essence.


FOR MINHAGUIM OF SEFIRAT HAOMER SEE this





PESAH EVE: What do we have to do today?

Ta’anit Bekhorot (Fast of the first born) 
Today is Ta’anit bekhorot, the fast of the first born (seehere). Because this fast day is a custom (minhag) rather than a formal fast, the tradition is that the first-born exempt themselves from this fast by participating in a joyous religious ceremony. For example, by participating in a  Berit Mila or a Pidion the first born will be exempt form the fast. Usually, every community organizes  a Siyum Masekhet (=the conclusion of a Talmudic treatise, which is an event that deserves celebration) so that the first-born present at the occasion will be exempted from the fast and won’t feel weak at the time of the Seder.
 
In most communities this fast is only customary for first-born males, not females.  In case the first-born is a young boy, many communities follow the tradition that the father fasts on his son’s behalf. Many families have the tradition that when the first born breaks the fast, they do not eat Hamets anymore, and females first-born refrain from eating Hamets in the morning.
Each community member should follow his and her own traditions and customs. 
Akhilat Matza  (Eating Matza  on Pesah Eve)
On Pesah eve we should not eat regular Matza .  We keep the taste of the Matza for its ideal moment: the night of the Seder. We are allowed to eat Matza ‘ashira or egg Matza (See this). Today we should eat light at noon and especially after mid-afternoon so we reserve our appetite for the Seder. 
LAST TIME TO EAT HAMETS TODAY in NYC: 
9.56 am (in some communities they set this time every year at 10.00 am)
  
LAST TIME FOR BI’UR HAMETS in NYC (=getting rid of Hamets by burning, feeding birds or fish, selling, etc. see this): 11.12 am (in some communities they set this time every year at 11.00 am).
After we get rid of the last Hamets we say the following text to definitely disown every Hamets that might have remained in our possession inadvertently:
“KAL HAMIRA DEIKA BIRSHUTI DEHAZITEH VEDELA HAZITEH, DEBI’ARTEH VEDELA BI’ARTEH LIBTIL VELEHEVE HEFKER KE’AFRA DEAR’A”
“All kind of Hamets or fermenting agents that belongs to me, that I have seen or that I haven’t seen,  that I have eliminated or that I haven’t eliminated, should be considered ownerless as the dust of the earth.”
  
Candle lighting tonight in NYC:   7:14pm
  
 HAG SAMEAH



PESAH, Passed-over or protected?

 ופסח ה’ על הפתח ולא יתן המשחית לבא אל בתיכם לנגוף
Exodus 12:23

 

In order to persuade the Egyptians to let the Jewish people go out of Egypt, the Almighty inflicted upon them ten plagues.  The last one, the plague that finally convinced the Egyptian monarch to let the Israelites go, was the death of the first-born.   The Tora describes the plague or sickness that affected the first-born as mash-hit, literally , “a destroyer” (Ex. 12:23). Obviously, we, the Jewish people, do not believe in powers independent from God. However, in order to fit our limited understanding, the Biblical text often attributes certain actions to God’s shelihim or proxies. The “destroyer” (The rabbis nicknamed it elsewhere the angel of death), describes one of God’s action, death, thru a linguistic proxy. We say angel of death, or mash-hit  but we are referring ultimately to God’s actions. Illustration: In the South African courtroom, when Oscar Pistorius talks to the prosecutor (a man) he says: “My Lady”. Why? Because although the accuser is talking to the prosecutor, he has to address always the Judge, which in this case, is a woman. Similarly, althought the Tora describes the actions as done by a mash-hit/ destroyer, or a wind that God used to split the sea, etc. these actions referred and should always be ascribed to God.

Back to Pesah. In America, Pesah is known as “Passover”. It is thought that at the time of the death of the first born, while God was inflicting the blow of death to the Egyptians, He “passed over” (skipped) the house of the Jews sparing their lives.  Allow me to present a slightly different reading of the same verse, based on the Targum Onqelos, the official Jewish translation of the Bible. Onqelos does not translate “Pesah” or “Pasah” as passed-over but us protected (in Aramaic, hais, like, adam has al mamono, “a person cares and protects his assets”). Thus, the verse Ex. 12:23 should be translated in this way “When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and He will PROTECT that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down” (see also Ex. 11:27). Accordingly, God  (linguistically) acted thru His destroyer to inflict death, but He Himself (so to speak) cared for and protected His chosen People. That is why Pesah, particularly the first night of Pesah, is also called in the Tora “lel shimurim”, the night of Protection.

I prefer this translation because when Pesah is understood as “Divine Protection” it gives a clearer meaning to this beautiful Holiday:    Pesah celebrates God’s Protection to the Jewish people, from the eve of the exodus of Egypt until our own days.



PESAH, how to have a succesuful SEDER?

Monday April 14th and Tuesday 15th at night, are probably the most important nights of the Jewish Calendar. During those nights we will fulfill a very special Mitsva:  והגדת לבנך teaching our children the story of Pesah. Instilling in their minds and hearts the collective memories that will shape their personalities and identity for the rest of their lives. But, how to do that? We have the Haggada, the narrative of the Exodus. And we also have the clear instructions of our rabbis: teach and talk to your children at the level of their understanding.

But, how should we do that? How should we teach our children Jewish History (or Jewish memory) in the era of youtube, Instagram and iPads?  In a time where their attention span is so short and erratic…

The secret for a successful and meaningful Pesah Seder could be summarized with three words: Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.

Some ideas

1. DIVIDE AND CONQUER:  Write an email, text or whatsapp today to each member of your family and guests. Assign to each one of them one part of the Haggada. Ask them to be ready to read and/or explain at least one short text of the Hagada in Hebrew, English,  etc.   Encourage them to search at least in the following websites: www.torah.org, aish.com, ou.org, for material related to the texts they will  read.     The little ones should prepare themselves to sing (and perhaps explain)  ma nishtana’ or ‘abadim hayinu  or had gadya.     Those who have difficulties reading Hebrew should search online and be ready to explain one particular idea of the hagada (=Pesah, matsa, maror, 4 cups, eating reclined, haroset, etc.).
 
2. MAKE IT RELEVANT:  Encourage some of the participants of the Seder, even your prospective guests,  to briefly (5 minutes, max!) debate among themselves one subject related to the Exodus from Egypt, which is still relevant today. 
Two examples.
a. rab ve’atsum mimenu (Ex. 1:10). “Although they were only a small minority, the Egyptians feared that the Jews were too powerful and decided to eliminate them”. Although Jews make  less than 3% of the American population the list of “50 Most Influential Commentators in America” (as per Atlantic Magazine, 2010) included 26 Jews. Are we Jews too powerful? Not powerful enough? Is the “Jewish disproportional influence” in larger society an excuse to justify antisemitism? Should we keep it all to ourselves?
b. Vayare’u otanu hamitsrim vaya’anunu (Deut. 26:6). “The Egyptians demonized us and oppressed us”.  Since the beginning of our history, our enemies first demonizing us to justify their animosity against us. Is “demonization of the Jews” a strategy that is still used by anti-Semites to justify their hatred?  Is Israel, “the Jew among the nations”, demonized today in media, UN, etc. to justify anti-semitic behavior?

3. MAKE IT FUN: Ask the funniest guys of the family to play some parts of the Haggada, for example, the Ten Plagues. Have someone (a more serious guy) to explain briefly each plague while the actors play the play. One person has to play Moshe (with his head covered with a Talit) and someone else Pharaoh (use your imagination…).  Make it visual. Get small plastic frogs, animal masks for deber and ping pong balls for hail. Make it short. No more than 5 -7 minutes play.
Have games for the children, a Pesah treasure hunt or Pesah trivia, etc. To find great games you must see THIS and THIS.  Have 20 questions ready, and most importantly 20 (or more) small prizes to reward the correct answers. Anytime the Seder is about to get out of control, or boring or you need everyone’s attention you can ask one of your questions (show the prize first!). Guaranteed to work..

4. MAKE IT DEEP: Recommended modern Haggadot:   Rabbi Shimon Appisdorf see here.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks     See here
For the advanced students I recommended  THIS old but fantastic Sephardic commentary of the Haggada written by Rabbi Don Ytshaq Abarbanel (1437-1508). I’m going to use it this year. Do not skip the introduction (the tragic personal story of the author). Easy Hebrew. Courtesy of www.hebrewbooks.org .

 
PRICELESS for SPANISH SPEAKING JEWS

 

Click  here  to download an ancient Spanish (not “Ladino”) Hagadda, published by rabbi Ytshaq Yehuda Leon Templo, in Amsterdam, 1728

 


Click HERE to read:  “TO SELL or NOT TO SELL my HAMETS?“



PESAH, The night of the Seder (Part 2)

Yesterday, we began to explain the steps of the Seder.  We discussed only the first part: 1. Qaddesh. 
2. Urhats
We wash our hands (netilat yadayim) without saying any Berakha. It is customary that children help with this netilat yadayim bringing a bowl of water and a towel to the parents and grandparents. This netilat yadayim is done in order to eat the Karpas dipped in vinegar. Our sages instituted that the night of the Seder we should dip the Karpas not once, as it was normally done, but twice to awake the curiosity of the children and provoke their questions. These questions are already integrated into the famous text: Ma Nishtana. One of the questions refers to the double dipping of the Karpas.
 
3. Karpas
We eat a small piece of Karpas (celery).  In ancient times it was common for affluent people to have an aperitif (celery, or other green vegetable) before the main course to stimulate the appetite (poor people did not need appetizers to stimulate their appetite). The night of the Seder we should feel that we are free and affluent, in the sense that all our needs are covered by HaShem. This is also the reason why we sit leaning in our chairs: the slaves use to eat sitting on the floor, while the freemen and nobles would rest in comfortable chairs or couches.  We also dip the Karpas in vinegar (or salted water) to remind us of the misery of our slavery and the tears we shed in captivity. As you can see once again: the Seder is a balanced act of memory, between remembering our past as slaves and celebrating our God-given freedom.   Before eating the Karpas we recite the blessing Bore Peri haAdama. As we have explained, all these deviations from the ordinary dinning habits are meant toward one single goal: to motivate the children to ask questions in order to ensure their active participation during the Seder.
4.Yahats
From the three Matsot set on the table, we take the middle one, and we split it into two unequal parts. The smallest portion is returned to its place, between the two whole Matsot, and the biggest portion is kept for the Afiqoman.

For the rest of the Seder click HERE

LISTS OF FOODS FOR PESAH

Recommended list of foods for Ashkenazi Jews from cRc, Chicago, rabbi Gedaliah Shwartz. Click here

Recommended list of foods for Sephardic Jews. By Rabbi Yehudah Boroosan.   Click here

From Rabbi Yehudah Boroosan:  “….my objective in preparing this list is to make known the products that are L’chetachila qualified for Sefaradim on Pesach. There are so many people who are unable to obtain Kasher L”Pesach approved products and/or could not afford or are unwilling to purchase specifically marked items due to its higher price. I am fully aware of the kashruth issues and have therefore carefully included in this guide also those products that their kashruth status is more subject to policy that actuality and take full responsibility to make sure that every one is able to have a chag Kasher V’Sameyach.” 
PRICELESS GIFT FOR SPANISH SPEAKING JEWS

Click here to download an ancient Spanish (not “Ladino”) Hagadda, published by rabbi Ytshaq Yehuda Leon Templo, in Amsterdam, 1728

 



PESAH, the night of the Seder (part 1)

Throughout its symbolisms and traditions, the Seder of Pesah makes us feel the bitter experience of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. It invites us to visualize ourselves as if we were slaves, who are actually leaving right now and for good our miserable life in Egypt.  
We have two types of symbols in the Seder.  
1. The maror (bitter leaves); the haroset and the vinegar (or salted water) all reminders of the cruel slavery.
2. The four cups of wine; the reenacting of our departure from Egypt; the fact that we sit reclined, as was done exclusively by the Kings and Lords in antiquity, all symbols of freedom and liberty.
On this night, we rebuild in our tables the scenery of the events that took place at the time of our Exodus. Refreshing our collective memory and transmitting to our children who we were and who we are, where we coming from and how did all begin.  Keeping a strategic idea during the whole Seder: we are celebrating our freedom, without forgetting our ancestors suffering.
During the coming days, BH, we will review the steps of the Pesah Seder and we will hopefully learn its performance and meaning. 
Qaddesh
Monday, April 14th at night, we will have the first Seder of Pesah. The Seder begins with the Holiday consecration and its official inauguration: the qiddush.  Upon concluding the qiddush and the blessing sheheheyanu everyone drinks the first cup of wine, while leaning on the left side. Each cup should contain at least 3 ounces.  Throughout the Seder we drink four cups of wine. Symbolizing a joyous celebration of the four expressions of freedom found in the Tora. If one cannot drink pure wine, the wine could be diluted or substituted by grape juice. 
To be continued….

LISTS OF FOODS FOR PESAH
Recommended 
list of foods for Ashkenazi Jews from cRc, Chicago, rabbi Gedaliah Shwartz. 
Click here
Recommended list of foods for Sephardic Jews. By Rabbi Yehudah Boroosan.  Click here
Rabbi Yehudah Boroosan:  “….my objective in preparing this list is to make known the products that are L’chetachila qualified for Sefaradim on Pesach. There are so many people who are unable to obtain Kasher L”Pesach approved products and/or could not afford or are unwilling to purchase specifically marked items due to its higher price. I am fully aware of the kashruth issues and have therefore carefully included in this guide also those products that their kashruth status is more subject to policy that actuality and take full responsibility to make sure that every one is able to have a chag Kasher V’Sameyach.”



PESAH, to sell or not to sell your Hamets?

…ובלבד שלא יערים
Historically, Sephardic Jews did not practice the mekhirat hamets (selling of Hamets) procedure. They got rid of it before Pesah began. The only exceptional case in which Sephardic rabbis authorized selling the Hamets was the case of a food-store owner. In this case, a non-Jew would make a down payment for the total of the merchandise and from the moment he made that payment the Hamets merchandise would belong completely to the buyer, and he would be entirely responsible for the goods. So, for example, if the goods were stolen during Pesah, the buyer will have to pay for them to the seller after Pesah. The buyer would also rent the store for the duration of Pesah and he would have the keys of the store, which granted him total access to the premises of the store. The buyer could have used, consume or even trade the merchandise during Pesah, and if he wished so, he could pay the balance and keep the merchandise for himself. As you can see, although the intent was that the seller would buy back the Hamets after Pesah, the selling transaction was real, legal and binding.  The rabbis would not have accepted any selling transaction which would not have complied with Jewish and local Law because obviously, they took very seriously the prohibitions of owning Hamets during Pesah.  
Except for food business owners no one in Sephardic communities would sell his Hamets.   What would they do with their left overs of Hamets food?
1. Buying before Pesah whatever would be necessary until Pesah, avoiding to have extra Hamets food close to Pesah.
2. Whatever left overs of Hamets, should be given to a non-Jew as charity or as a gift, or if that is not possible, it would be disposed of.  Disposing of Hamets the day before Pesah, even of valuable Hamets, is a Biblical Mitsva. So this is not considered “waste” ( בל תשחית).
3. If some Hamets accidentally had not being detected, then the bitul Hamets, the formula  of renunciation to our ownership of any undisposed Hamets in our properties, would prevent the transgression of owning Hamets during Pesah.
If one follows these simple steps, then there is no need to sell any Hamets.
In our days most Sephardic communities arrange a Hamets-selling system in which community members empower a rabbi to sell their Hamets.  This procedure is an exceptional Halakhic leniency. In other words, a procedure that relays in a minority opinion in opposition to the opinion of most Rabbis.  Why? Because many of the conditions that would be normally required for a normal selling transaction, as per the vast majority of halakhic authorities, are not met in this sell. Explaining all the problems involved in this procedure would exceed the scope of this text, so I wrote a separate text Appendix 1 where I briefly discuss the main Halakhic objections to this selling.  
Still, many Rabbis offer and even encourage their community members to sell their Hamets. The reason for this is that they fear that otherwise most people would keep their valuable Hamets at home.  Obviously, I would not question the validity of this argument, since every Rabbi leads his community according to what he considers the best for his congregants.   
Personally, I don’t sell my Hamets (and I’m sure many other people do the same) and I encourage my community members to do the same. However, at the end of the day, as with every other halakhic leniencies or stringencies which we adopt or reject, selling or not selling the Hamets is a personal choice each individual has to make.
Recommendations:
1. I would obviously encourage Sephardic Jews to preserve the ancient Minhag and not selling your Hamets. See Appendix 2
2. If you choose to sell your Hamets, sell it through your community Rabbi, and avoid using online forms.


PESAH, psychological Hamets

השאור שבעיסה
 
We have explained that during Pesah it is strictly forbidden to eat any food that is or contains Hamets.  Why?  Beyond the well known historical reasons (Ex.12:39) our Rabbis saw in Hamets a very meaningful representation.   The Rabbis compared Hamets with arrogance and vanity; the inflated dough with the individual who allows his ego to expand. Arrogance and Hamets are both mere air, an illusionary inflation of the self.
 
But why should we be thinking about arrogance/humbleness specifically in Pesah? Not every person is exposed to the risk of becoming arrogant.  A Jewish slave in Egypt, for example, did not have the luxury to be exposed to vanity.  Self-pride is only relevant if you are a free man.  In Pesah, we commemorate our freedom from physical slavery, bearing in mind that as free individuals we might easily fall pray to a different kind of slavery, a mental self-enslavement, a sort of addiction to the inflatable aspects of our self.  In Pesah, while celebrating freedom, we also become conscious of the risks to become arrogant by this sort of psychological Hamets. 
Modern society, in its relentless efforts to turn us into loyal consumers, contributes a great deal to the feeding of our pride.  Training us into being more egocentric and more hedonistic, into thinking that we are entitled to have everything we need, we wish and we want as long as we are able to afford it.  This power might easily deteriorate into arrogance. 
The Matza, a flat, thin and unpretentious bread, represents humbleness. Humility does not mean to allow ourselves to be degraded; it means that we realize the true dimension of human life, becoming aware of our inescapable mortality and recognizing that while alive we are totally dependent on God. 
Humility is also the essence of a healthy dose of self-esteem,  a prerequisite for being in peace with oneself.  The arrogant individual is insecure and yearns for public praise and the applause of others, sometimes desperately, in order to compensate for his low self-esteem.    Only the humble one, the person who  does not need to seek people’s praise to feel better, is truly free.  He is able to change and constantly improve himself.  The arrogant person, on the other hand, is psychologically unable to admit mistakes and therefore, incapable of change. He ends up adapting himself, enslaving himself, to his own shortcomings.  Arrogance is a Pharaoh that condemns our personality to stagnation.   
Moreover, while the humble person knows that every human being deserves dignity and respect and has the right to be listened and understood, the arrogant individual becomes an exclusive servant of his own inflated reflection.   Arrogance is a layer of silver behind a glass which only mirrors our own reflection. Arrogance, this type of mental Hamets, is the main barrier between a man and his fellowman, and between man and God. 
Pesah is an intense lesson on humility.  In the same way we eliminate every crumb of Hamets from our homes, we should erase every trace of vanity from our hearts.

SHABBAT SHALOM
Candle lighting in NYC      7:04
Shabbat ends in NYC          8:05